Crossing busy Chalukya Circle, a nightmare for pedestrians

Pedestrians have been finding it extremely difficult to cross the busy Chalukya circle, where six roads meet.

Even though the junction has multiple traffic signals they seem to serve only the motorists. The reason being that the time set in the signal for the pedestrians to cross the road is too short, just 10 seconds.  Often they get stuck between the passing vehicles, scurrying for cover.

Students of the Government Ramnarayan Chellaram College of Commerce and Management near the junction are forced to cross the roads in groups during peak hours, fearing a fatal accident.

Explaining the difficulty they face while crossing the road, Chandrika, a student from the college said: "Motorists do not stop when an individual attempts to cross the road. Thus, we move in group forcing the vehicles stop until we cross the road."

The situation is no different for other pedestrians. Triveni, who works in the Vidhana Soudha, said that reaching office from the junction is a very difficult task.

A pedestrian underpass was constructed at the junction on Raj Bhavan road. But it remains unused as it has been locked. There is some solace for those crossing the Palace Road near Sophia School as there is a foot-over-bridge that helps students cross the road.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hitendra feels that there is a need for another foot-over-bridge at the junction. “Signal timing is fixed based on the width of the road for pedestrian crossing. We can’t provide provision for pedestrain crossing at every place other than the junction as all roads are already carrying vehicles more than their capacity,” he said.